The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
The Official Report search offers lots of different ways to find the information you’re looking for. The search is used as a professional tool by researchers and third-party organisations. It is also used by members of the public who may have less parliamentary awareness. This means it needs to provide the ability to run complex searches, and the ability to browse reports or perform a simple keyword search.
The web version of the Official Report has three different views:
Depending on the kind of search you want to do, one of these views will be the best option. The default view is to show the report for each meeting of Parliament or a committee. For a simple keyword search, the results will be shown by item of business.
When you choose to search by a particular MSP, the results returned will show each spoken contribution in Parliament or a committee, ordered by date with the most recent contributions first. This will usually return a lot of results, but you can refine your search by keyword, date and/or by meeting (committee or Chamber business).
We’ve chosen to display the entirety of each MSP’s contribution in the search results. This is intended to reduce the number of times that users need to click into an actual report to get the information that they’re looking for, but in some cases it can lead to very short contributions (“Yes.”) or very long ones (Ministerial statements, for example.) We’ll keep this under review and get feedback from users on whether this approach best meets their needs.
There are two types of keyword search:
If you select an MSP’s name from the dropdown menu, and add a phrase in quotation marks to the keyword field, then the search will return only examples of when the MSP said those exact words. You can further refine this search by adding a date range or selecting a particular committee or Meeting of the Parliament.
It’s also possible to run basic Boolean searches. For example:
There are two ways of searching by date.
You can either use the Start date and End date options to run a search across a particular date range. For example, you may know that a particular subject was discussed at some point in the last few weeks and choose a date range to reflect that.
Alternatively, you can use one of the pre-defined date ranges under “Select a time period”. These are:
If you search by an individual session, the list of MSPs and committees will automatically update to show only the MSPs and committees which were current during that session. For example, if you select Session 1 you will be show a list of MSPs and committees from Session 1.
If you add a custom date range which crosses more than one session of Parliament, the lists of MSPs and committees will update to show the information that was current at that time.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 772 contributions
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 January 2025
Jenni Minto
As I have said in previous answers, the work that Food Standards Scotland does is a continuum. It is always horizon scanning and checking where new risks may arise. The proposed change will allow the resource that went on a 10-year process to be allocated as needed as new products come in.
Another thing that it is important to recognise is the fact that there will be transparency. Although there will not be a statutory instrument on this, there will be a register of items, so it will be fully transparent which products have been checked. That is important to recognise. I will bring in Georgina Finch.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 January 2025
Jenni Minto
I think that it is fair to say that, as has been noted on a number of occasions just in this past half hour, Food Standards Scotland is robust and has people’s respect. I again underline that any authorisation decisions are underpinned by robust evidence that is based on scientific and technical scrutiny through both Food Standards Scotland and the FSA. That is open and transparent, and risk assessments are published and publicly available. That is very important when we are talking about food standards and safety.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 21 January 2025
Jenni Minto
When I have been discussing the issue with Food Standards Scotland, which has been happening over the past couple of years, the spotlight has always been on the future—that is, on what could happen. In my discussions, it has always been clear that what we need to do with the resource is ensure that we can carry out horizon scanning, and that we can work with international scientists and gather data and evidence from countries around the world to make sure that we have the best and the highest food standards in Scotland.
I am pleased that Food Standards Scotland’s work is, as Ms Harper noted, well respected. It is also transparent, which is key. People are able to access Food Standards Scotland’s website to see the work that has been taking place. The proposed change does nothing to change any of that—it just enforces what we are doing.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
The Scottish Government works closely with local authorities and with the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland on that. We invest about £3 million into that work and also £50,000 to ensure that we have that relationship.
One of the important things about the bill is the fact that it is across the four nations. The UK Government has invested £100 million over five years to support HM Revenue and Customs and border control to ensure that we can reduce the amount of illicit products coming in.
Enforcement is important and that is the work that we continue to do and have great conversations about with local authorities. We also have the register of tobacco and nicotine vapour product retailers in Scotland, which helps us. It includes every retailer that sells cigarettes and other nicotine products, so we can get that information from them as well.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
That is a very good question. I will hand over to Ruth Foulis.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
The focus of our work over the next 10 years—or nine years, because it is a year since it was launched—is on the tobacco and vaping framework, which looks towards a tobacco-free Scotland in 2034. The UK legislation came in as we were developing our framework, and the Scottish Government has been very pleased to support it because we believe that it moves not only Scotland, but the entire UK, into the ballpark of aiming to be tobacco and vape free in 2034.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
That is correct. Clause 60 of the bill sets out that the meaning of “nicotine product” includes
“nicotine, or any substance containing nicotine, which is intended to be delivered into the human body”
but we still need ways of providing cessation products for people who wish to cease smoking.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
As I understand it, not being a smoker and not being a user of herbal products, there are herbal products that are made into cigarettes, and nicotine pouches are also used.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
Again, my understanding is that herbal products do not necessarily contain nicotine, but they contain substances that can have a carcinogenic impact, as well as tar. That is why they are included in the legislation.
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 17 December 2024
Jenni Minto
There is currently a need for people to confirm their age when they are buying products if the retailer is at all concerned, so that is something that is accepted. The point—which I have made before—is that between 80 and 90 per cent of people who start smoking do so when they are under 20, so by the time the legislation moves through, if it is successful, it is clear that there will be fewer people starting to smoke.
I go back to the point that the legislation is here to help us stop the start, and that is a strong message that everyone should recognise.